John Barnes insists that it will now be the norm for footballers to agitate for a move and that he isn’t a fan of players going on strike at their contracted clubs.
Asked about the Alexander Isak move from Newcastle to Liverpool[1], Barnes told Daily Mail Sport: ‘I think this is going to be a feature of football where players will agitate for a move and people will accept it.
‘It doesn’t matter if it’s right or wrong – it’s a feature of modern football so we have to get used to it. This is the way business is done. I’m not a big fan of it, I have to admit.’
‘Maybe this wouldn’t have happened in my day because players stuck with contracts and clubs honoured the contracts. There was a way of doing things but times have changed and football and life has changed,’ added Barnes, who made the move to Liverpool in 1987 from Watford[2] for £900,000.
At the time, he was the highest-paid player in Britain.
Speaking at an event in Liverpool with Premier League[3] player, PICO and Rezzil, Barnes said that he believes the transfer window[4] should end before the season starts.
John Barnes insists that it will now be the norm for footballers to agitate for a move and that he isn’t a fan of players going on strike
Alexander Isak down tools at Newcastle in order to force through a transfer to Liverpool
Barnes also urged Reds wonderkid Rio Ngumoha to not get carried away by his recent success
‘I would love the transfer window to end before the season starts. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t because it just causes upheaval for everyone. I don’t see why they just can’t have a situation where at the start of the season you know the players you have and you get on with it.’
Asked about 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha, who became Liverpool’s youngest-ever goal-scorer when he scored an injury-time winner at Newcastle last week, Barnes urged the teenager not to get carried away. When Ngumoha was eight, he took a picture with Barnes.
‘I didn’t know it was Rio at the time but the house family who looks after him showed me a picture of me and Rio when he was eight at a tube station in London,’ he said. ‘I wish I’d known that he was going to turn out to what he has. I would have signed him up and been his agent there and then,’ joked Barnes.
‘But of course he has a long way to go. He’s actually done absolutely nothing at this moment in time so let’s not put him under too much pressure because he scored the winner against Newcastle. It has to be forgotten about now. When you’ve done it, you enjoy it, you put it to the side, you forget about it and you move on to the next thing.’
‘So let him grow slowly. Theo Walcott went to the World Cup and yes he had a great career but the expectations are so great. I don’t put pressure on young players. He’s doing ok but he’s not even good enough for Liverpool’s first team yet.’
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References
- ^ Liverpool (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Watford (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Premier League (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ transfer window (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ https://www.amazon.co.uk/PICO-Ultra-256GB-Reality-Trackers/dp/B0DB5RF1YG (www.amazon.co.uk)